I remember reading in the past couple of days that even Japan had to scramble jets, because of Russian planes flying very close to their
airspace...

Yeah i read the same thing Russia is messing with everyone apparently there all stirred up.

The two other pairs flew over the Sea of Japan (East Sea). None of the flights intruded into Japanese airspace.

"They are continuing flights, which we deem as abnormal and were unseen even in the Cold War era," defence minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters
after attending a ceremony in Okinawa to inaugurate an airborne early warning squadron.

originally posted by: ProfessorT
Just had the Sky News Breaking News thingy flash up on my iPad.

What are Russian spy planes doing so close to the UK? I'm sure I read an article that mentioned some Russian politicians 'jokingly' talked about
annexing Scotland. Those planes were lucky they weren't shot down. Russia have already said today they will protect their interests in Ukraine so
right now I think it's fair to say all sides are gearing up for military warfare.

They have been running those flights quite a bit over the last month or 2. Turkey in addition to Romania / Bulgaria have had Russian surveillance
aircraft skirt their borders.

nothing new to be honest.

I still think Russia should get smacked for violating the open skies agreement for surveillance aircraft.

Well it is new kind of see even during the cold war there were rules to the game currently Russia Is choosing to shall we say change the rules. The
bad part is when you do that someones libel to start shooting. It really does seem Putin is pushing for a conflict or is it he just ants to show what
he can get away with?

MOSCOW — Russia continued Wednesday to ratchet up pressure on the government in Kiev, warning that events in eastern Ukraine could prompt a
military response and again accusing the United States of directing events there.

“If we are attacked, we would certainly respond,” Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said in an interview with the Kremlin’s
satellite news network, Russia Today, or RT. The network’s website published a short excerpt from the interview, which was scheduled to be broadcast
later Wednesday.

Mr. Lavrov also made one of the first high-profile statements comparing the events in Ukraine to the circumstances that led to the war in Georgia in
2008 and to the breaking away of two republics, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

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As church bells rang at funerals

“If our interests, our legitimate interests, the interests of Russians have been attacked directly, like they were in South Ossetia for example, I
do not see any other way but to respond in accordance with international law,” Mr. Lavrov said.

An accord reached in Geneva last week, when all sides seemed to agree on the need to defuse the confrontation over cities seized by armed, pro-Russian
forces in eastern Ukraine, is continuing to crumble. Each side has demanded that the other make the first move, and the agreement did not include an
enforcement measure.

On Tuesday, Ukraine had announced that it was resurrecting an effort to use its armed forces to retake buildings, although a previous attempt
sputtered out without changing the balance of forces.

Mr. Lavrov again denied that Russian troops massed along the border had crossed into Ukraine, but he also said that any attacks on Russians in Ukraine
would bring a response. “Russian citizens being attacked is an attack against the Russian Federation,” he said.

Mr. Lavrov repeated his accusation that Washington was coordinating events in Ukraine, citing the visit by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to Kiev,
the capital, earlier this week.

“There is no reason not to believe that the Americans are running the show,” Mr. Lavrov said. The announcement of the resumption of the military
campaign came on the heels of Mr. Biden’s visit, the foreign minister said, just as the first call by leaders in Kiev for such a campaign came after
a visit by John O. Brennan, the director of the C.I.A.

AMSTERDAM (AP) -- The Dutch defense department says several NATO member countries scrambled jets Wednesday afternoon after a pair of Russian
bomber planes approached their airspace over the North Sea.

The Dutch ministry identified the planes as two Russian TU-95 Bears, and said it had launched two F-16s from Volkel air force base to intercept them.
The Russian jets were escorted by aircraft from the Netherlands, Britain and Denmark until they departed.

Maj. Wilko Ter Horst said "that's why we scrambled, that's why the Danish scrambled and the English scrambled, to ensure to insure they fly out of
our air space."

The ministry statement said such incidents have occurred before, citing one from March 21 and another on Sept. 10 last year.

originally posted by: ProfessorT
Just had the Sky News Breaking News thingy flash up on my iPad.

What are Russian spy planes doing so close to the UK? I'm sure I read an article that mentioned some Russian politicians 'jokingly' talked about
annexing Scotland. Those planes were lucky they weren't shot down. Russia have already said today they will protect their interests in Ukraine so
right now I think it's fair to say all sides are gearing up for military warfare.

They are in international airspace and no they are not going to be shot down. Just the same as NATO aircraft operating in international airspace off
the coast of the Russian Federation. The two Russian aircraft were Russian Air Force Tu-95MS Bear H. Although they will have a limited intelligence
collection capability their primary mission is strategic bomber with air-launched cruise missiles. It is nothing new for Russian strategic bombers to
come down off the UK, into the North Sea and cause NATO QRA to scramble. Dutch QRA F-16s were also reportedly scrambled today as the Tu-95s continued
south into the North Sea. It has been quite a while since the last Tu-95s were in the North Sea. Off the top of my head it was around 6 months ago?

Since events in Ukraine the Russians Tu-95s have been busy elsewhere.

Japan scrambles fighters against Russian bombers for 6 days in row

The Japanese Air Self-Defense Force scrambled fighter jets after three pairs of Russian Tupolev Tu-95 bombers were detected flying around the Japanese
archipelago Friday, the Defense Ministry's Joint Staff office announced.

While they did not violate Japanese airspace, this was the sixth day in a row in which Russian military planes were spotted flying close to Japan.

It is rare for the ASDF to scramble against as many as six foreign aircraft in a day. The ministry is analyzing motives behind Russia's heightened
activities.

As a radio enthusiast I have been monitoring the Tu-95s active in voice on 8090 Kilohertz USB. Very busy sending messages back to their ground
controller. The Morse Code network for the Tu-95MS is also active. At the moment they are favouring voice communications with just the channel markers
sending Morse marker beacons on 8029 Kilohertz. The Morse and Voice networks were active during 06 GMT so a very long day for those Russian aircrew as
they head home via the Kola Peninsula and back to either Engels (Southern Russia) or Ukrainka (Far East).

Well, that surely is the point, to be as loud and as visible as possible. But the question is, why so much lately and in different places around the
world. Also there are those saying that these events are happening now even more often than during Cold War...

God my side is in trouble if Russian "Planes" as in plural are chased away by a singular "Jet"

Does you think they was Russian by-planes or mono-winged planes attacking the UK or where they on their way to an air show.

You also gave a link out to RT.com (something I watch) and you know they tell nothing but lies and propaganda and in any case the equipment they use
is so backwards because the station goes down twice a week with a message about "Scheduled maintenance" so I just had to ask why.

I hope this war starts soon because we are on page 410 and I wana see some action like a single shell being fire, a RPG slamming into a tank or in the
very least a bit of machine gun fire between NATO/USA forces and Russia because so far I think I have tuned into a romantic comedy by mistake.

That guy leading the convoy of two vehicles that penetrated deep inside the Ukraine, behind enemy lines seemed to be a bit lost and I think he was
asking that woman for directions to England and said something about an air-show and being late or something like that.

TU-95's - Turbo prop long range bombers.
Russia has about 55 active.

Ukraine adopted some after the collapse of the USSR - 1 left in a museum.

Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the "people's mayor" of Slavyansk, does not intend to release the American journalist Simon Ostrovsky, who last night
was taken hostage by militia, Ponomaryov has told a gazeta.ru correspondent. The following is a full translation of the article by The Interpreter:

"We need captives. We need a bargaining chip. Many of our comrades are imprisoned. Those guys [Ukrainians] are grabbing them, then taking them to
Kiev and torturing them. So then, we're doing the very same thing. That is, in the sense that we're taking captives," said Ponomaryov.

To the question of a correspondent about whether Ostrovsky's parents, who had telephoned the "people's mayor" on Tuesday during a press
conference, should expect their son in the near future, Ponomaryov announced: "Let them do what they want. We are on our territory."

Well, that surely is the point, to be as loud and as visible as possible. But the question is, why so much lately and in different places around the
world. Also there are those saying that these events are happening now even more often than during Cold War...

In regards to flights directed towards NATO nations it is nowhere near Cold War levels. When I was serving the the RAF during the 1980s the Tu-95s and
other types would sometimes be down in the North Sea five days a week. The levels are nothing compared to Cold War levels. Currently since the
Russians recommenced these strategic bomber flights it works out to around one a month where RAF QRA has to be scrambled for Russian aircraft. It is
Japan that has seen a greater increase of fights.

In relation to NATO QRA see activity figures for the past couple of years.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions Royal Air Force aircraft have been launched to monitor Russian aircraft approaching UK
airspace in each of the last three years; and where each such flight was (a) directed and (b) scrambled from.

Andrew Robathan (South Leicestershire, Conservative)

Royal Air Force quick reaction alert (QRA) aircraft are based at RAF Leuchars and RAF Coningsby. The number of days on which QRA aircraft have
launched in response to Russian military aviation that approached or entered the NATO air policing area for which the UK has responsibility in the
each of the last three years is contained in the following table. The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace at all times. Not every
launch resulted in an interception as some incidents were resolved prior to interception.

Number of days QRA launched in response to Russian military aviation
2010 11
2011 10
2012 8

I am withholding where each such flight was directed and scrambled from as deterrence is a principal function of QRA and QRA is in turn an integral
part of the air defence of the UK. The disclosure of information that might compromise the QRA deterrent capability would, or would be likely to,
prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.

Well, that surely is the point, to be as loud and as visible as possible. But the question is, why so much lately and in different places around the
world. Also there are those saying that these events are happening now even more often than during Cold War...

Because Putin does not realize the Soviet Union collapsed back in the 1990's.

You also gave a link out to RT.com (something I watch) and you know they tell nothing but lies and propaganda

Sure.. unlike you I am making an effort to see things from both sides instead of just coming into this thread, spouting off bs and dragging the thread
off topic with asinine comments about planes and plane while hoping for a war Russia is going to start but will not win.

At checkpoints in Slavic are armed Chechens. This was announced today at a press conference said the wife of slain deputy Gorlovskoy council
Volodymyr Rybak Elena Rybak.

She said yesterday, these people do not let it into the city on opiznannya body man. 'There are people with guns, people of Chechen ethnicity speak
with an accent, with beards. The bridge was guarded these people, "- she said.

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